MARTIN BERNETTI AFP
Botswana's Letsile Tebogo became the first African to win the Olympic 200 metres on Thursday as he, and Covid, upstaged Noah Lyles' plans for a sprint double in Paris.
Tebogo, 21, was able to ease up at the end and still clocked an African record of 19.46sec for gold, with American Kenny Bednarek taking silver in 19.62sec and Lyles fading to bronze in 19.70sec.
Lyles, who was pictured in the warm-up area wearing a mask, admitted after the race he had Covid.
Covid woes aside, the night belonged to the ground-breaking Tebogo.
Tebogo's gold is even more impressive given that he lost his mother Seratiwa in May. His running shoes bear his late mother's date of birth.
"It's basically me carrying her through every stride that I take inside the field," said the sprinter, who took a month off training and competition after her death.
"It gives me a lot of motivation. She's watching up there, and she's really, really happy. I didn't want to put the date of her death, because I'll get emotional."
Tebogo added: "I'm really grateful for the team around me. They really pushed me through thick and thin.
"We had our ups and downs, but we just made sure that we pulled through and made it to the Olympics."
The final lacked the pre-race hype of the 100m, falling mid-session at a packed Stade de France.
Lyles was given a huge reception when introduced as cameras showed him up on the big screens at either end of the stadium.
The newly crowned 100m champion was drawn in lane five, outside Alexander Ogando and inside American teammate Knighton, while Tebogo was in seven inside Bednarek.
The American bounded into the stadium, as he had done before the 100m final, cupping his ear to the crowd, but his exuberant showboating saw him yellow-carded for breaking the starting block.
Tebogo, however, was an image of calmness, walking quietly on and going straight to his blocks.
He looked in total control, even relaxing as he went through the finish line, making a brushing-off gesture to the rest of the field.
© Agence France-Presse
